The day of the rehike was also the day all the guys went hiking on the Appalachian Trail, leaving all the ladies on campus. A full day of activities and sessions was planned for us.
Our first activity was to “catch a bus”. We had to go to our campsites, pack our bags -one advantage I had was that I was already packed because of the mornings hike- and in rows of three link arms and walk up to the circle drive, (third time up the treacherous hill that morning) all in 25 minutes.
Upon arrival we had to “get our visas” and “buy a tent”. But… instead of paying for them with money we had to work for it. We were given a list of exercises that we had to do- 100 squats per person, 56 push ups per person, around 50 burpees per person… plus we had to do a set for each of the guys on our squad. (44 girls+5 guys=49) 4900 squats. 2,744 push ups. 2,450 burpees.
We started with the squats. There were a couple of us that were sore from the mornings rehike. I was about 60 in when one of our trainers came and asked me how many I had left. When I told her she said she would take 20 and I could take a break. Just then a trainer from one of the other squads came and asked me how many I had. I had 20 more to go and she said she’d take 10 and I did 10. We knocked the squats out!
Next we tackled the burpees. I was sore! It’s hard enough to do a burpee on a normal day, much less the day I hiked 2.2 miles, with my full pack, for the second time in as many days. I was able to sit this one out because my squad knew how sore. As I was watching I started noticing that there were girls from the other two squads right next to the girls in my squad doing them to. They were going up to those who were doing it and taking some of theirs!
The same thing happened with the pushups! The girls from the smaller squads had finished their exercises but they hadn’t stopped there. They had looked around and seen that we had a lot to do yet and even though they had done the same thing, and were tired, they jumped right in and helped us anyway. They said later that when they were doing theirs it was tiring and hard, but when they were helping us, reaching out and forgetting about themselves, it wasn’t even hard.
We finished our list of torture and picked up a tent. The next item on the list was to set up the tent, take a selfie with EVERYONE inside, (have you ever put 44 women in a tent on a hot day? slightly claustrophobic. We quickly crowded in, took the picture and got out) take the tent down, pack it up, take our packs back to the campsite and get back to the training center by 11:00.
If you were to ask me what my favorite moment from training camp was I would probably tell you this story. There were three squads. All had the same assignment. But when it came down to it we were all united for a common purpose. Those girls were not required to help us. They all had to set up a tent, take a picture, take it down… But they chose to take a moment and look around, asking the question “where can I help” and doing something. Several of the trainers said they had a training camp like that before.
All three squads with trainers!
We are the start -in Adventures in Missions terminology- of a new generation. A,B, and C squad 5th generation. I’m excited to see what this “generation” will be able to accomplish together!
